Harters

Well, there's Mrs Harters to whom, in the "getting irritated stakes", I am a pale runner-up. We are northerners of the variety that regards Stoke-on-Trent as "down south".

Pam It's not the photography that makes me a moaning northern git but the flashes while I'm trying to eat. An irritating distraction to me enjoying my meal - of course most diners will be too polite to say anything, I am not one of them and will often make an issue of it. The worst occasion was when the restaurant was having some publicity photos taken - we told the staff (bluntly) either they told the photographer to F-off or we'd F-off. No tips that night. John

Howard Now it's me that doesnt understand your point, I'm afraid. If the machine is programmed to not allow a tip to be entered, then it is programmed to not allow a tip to be entered, however much one might have wanted it to. And I remain in agreement with JudyB, that's how many are programmed. Your own experience is not at all uncommon in my experience.

Pam Let's hope that we're not in the same restaurant when you're using flash. I'd probably have to kill you - or at least make some blunt northern comment to which I'd hope you would take offence. And then both our enjoyments would have been spoilt. J

Hibiscus? Two Michelin stars and a three course lunch for £29.50. Suggest you also have a look at the deals on offer through TopTable - often some cracking good ones, particularly lunch.

Another bargain lunch, this time compliments of Mrs H’s Hi-Life Dining Card (basically gives you a BOGOF). Me – Devilled kidneys on toast. Meaty kidneys from Frost’s in Chorlton. Devilled sauce could have managed a tad more oomph. Nice thick slice of toast. Her – Pea soup. Lovely – nothing more than a bang-on fresh pea taste. A slice of Kirkhams Lancashire on toast on the side. Me - Free range ham hock (shreds of meat, wrapped in caul), merguez sausage, long cooked cabbage, mustard sauce, roast potatoes. Good ham and cabbage. Crisp spuds. Merguez needed more “poke” to make the whole dish zing, but that’s nit-picking. It was really was all very enjoyable. Her – Did even better again. Lamb burger (thick, juicy, tasty), spiced red cabbage, home made tomato ketchup (thick, chunky, more of a pickle – damn good), chips. Service was good and friendly. Waitress knowledgable about the wine of which they had several available by the glass.

Yep, you got a better looking deal, Pam. Food looks quite appetising.

I presume one can always ask the restaurant to add a tip amount to the bill before they input anything to the machine.

Ah, thanks for that dougal. I presume the new ownership accounts for the greater availability - used to be very much just farm gate sales. Looking at the website, it seems as though the Waitrose at Droitwich is the most southern branch to stock it. Worth a punt by mail order - 'tis very good.

No worries, Pam. I sort of quite like the occasional disaster. Gives you something to talk about - otherwise we end up like those folk who always go to Pizza Express and always have the American Hot - coz it's where and what they like.

MASTER BUILDERS HOUSE HOTEL, BUCKLERS HARD Continuing the outdoor eating of this week, I suspect there are few prettier views than from outside the bar of this hotel – looking down on to the Beaulieu River, with yachts pottering up and down and a backdrop of the New Forest. Food’s not bad either. On offer the other day was a BBQ outside the “lower bar”. I was tempted as the smell of grilling meat wafted around but I went to have a look at the main menu in the “upper bar”. More posh pub grub than gastropub – sandwiches, steak & chips and so on. But other more interesting stuff – oysters, local mussels and the like. As soon as I spotted the “Godminster board”, I thought “yep, you’ll do”. So, the wooden board is delivered. On top, a Scotch egg, a pork pie, a large chunk of very full-flavoured Godminster organic cheddar, some of the farm’s beetroot chutney (nicely chunky) and a handful of well-dressed salad leaves. And, of course, I had a side order of chips. Perfect pub lunch, IMO.

WESTBEACH, BOURNEMOUTH WestBeach, the restaurant, is situated right on West Beach, the beach. It majors on seafood and was recently included in a Jay Rayner listing of the 20 best places to eat this summer. I knew a couple of the other places so I thought it’d be a good bet for lunch. So had everyone else. It was only just past noon but the outside terrace was full – mainly folk drinking coffee – I realised then that it’s a cafe as well as restaurant. No matter, WestBeach has those full-width doors which fold completely back so you’re outside, yet inside (if you see what I mean). As mentioned the menu is heavy on seafood, supplemented by further dishes on the specials board. I started with a couple of roll-mops – good fish, finely sliced onion giving a bite, nicely vinegary. WestBeach also meets my criteria for “Eating Fish & Chips Elsewhere than a Chippy”. In sight of the sea? Check. Reputation for fish? Check. Cod, chips and mushy peas, please. Lovely crisp batter to the fish – not a hint of oiliness. Nice flakes to the smallish fillet of cod. Excellent tartare sauce. Peas a bit thick and stodgy – more pease pudding than mushy peas – but a really good flavour. Chips, frozen but reasonably tasty – and fried to an appealing golden brown. I’m northern, so eating fish & chips is a cultural imperative. It is not blind prejudice but part of my genetic make-up to despise southern fish & chips. Are bears Catholic? Does the Pope shit in the woods? But, I have to accept, these were OK. OK, they were better than OK.

ANOKAA Salisbury seems short on good food opportunities. The Good Food Guide has no listing and Hardens only includes Anokaa, making particular mention of the lunchtime buffet. So I went and tried it. And it affirmed my relief that I live in Cheshire and only had to endure this below-average boring food once. Short on choice; short on flavour; very short on enjoyment. There were pappadums and the usual curryhouse accompaniements – onions, red and tasteless, orange gloop that may have been mango but tasted of orange gloop, a decent mint raita. There were a couple of salads and a funny coloured gloop that seemed as though it was a bland form of guacamole. I was a bit intrigued – avocado in an Indian restaurant? So I asked what it was – yep, a bland version of guacamole. The hot starters comprised what I assume was supposed to be aloo tikki (but was actually just spiceless fried mashed potato), similarly bland veggie samosa and soem small chunks of dried-up, wizend chicken. No second helpings, thanks very much. Only two options for main course. Chicken, which came with mangetout and a had vaguely sweet taste reminiscent of Vesta boil-in-the-bag, circa 1975. The veggie option was even worse. It looked like the leftovers from a Sunday roast. It tasted like the leftovers from a Sunday roast. There was a decent enough dhal makhani, which managed to add some taste and interest to the plate. Of the carbs, rice was claggy but bread was a somewhat redeeming tandoori roti, rather than the more usual naan. I struggle to recall a worse meal in recent times.

I'm with Judy in being all for electronic "slips closed". And, these days, we usually make sure we also have cash for tipping. That said, if we cannot be like Belgium & France where service is inherently included in menu price, then I'm a fan of service charges.

Dunno if their online system has changed but I had problems a year or so back, trying to get book at the Devonshire (now closed, I think). Then you would make your request and there was a promise that you'd get a confirmation back from a "real person". In theory. Nowt happened - so I sent them an email basically saying "If you don't want my money, then fuck you". Apologetic phone call ensued.

Is that Maynard as in Maynard's Bacon - farm shop in Shropshire and the bacon occasionally appearing in Waitrose (at least here in North Cheshire) ? Fab product!

EASTZEAST, PRINCESS STREET A return visit after a gap of many months sees the original branch, at the Ibis Hotel, as busy as ever. We’d booked which was probably just as well as the queue of people waiting for tables just grew while we were eating. It vies with Akbars in our affections for being “the best” in the city centre. It’s modern and it’s comfortable – although tables are close enough to feel that you’re part of the next one’s conversation. We decided to start with a mixed platter of vegetarian offerings – aloo tikki, deep fried paneer, vegetable samosa, onion bhaji and a couple of pakoras. This was OK, the samosa crisp and tasty, the tikki soft and nicely spiced but the other items were less than stellar. However, what lifted the whole thing was the best pickle tray we can recall – half a dozen or so very different bowls – a world away from the mango chutney and vivid red onions of the high street curry house. Here, a thick plum chutney contrasted with a more thinner yoghurty coriander and chilli dip. Another included large chunks of garlic guaranteed to keep the vampires away. My partner then went with karahi gosht dopiaza. A very substantial dish of tender lamb which, when her arm was twisted to make a decision, said that Akbar’s version just edged it. Amongst the list of handis was a new one for me – achari lamb. It was described as being prepared with pickles and, indeed, there was sourness to the dish. I liked it – perhaps more for the newness to me of the flavours than something that might become a regular item to be ordered. We had some rice and couple of delicious tandoori rotis to mop up the thick sauce of both dishes. And a side order of aloo gobi just to make sure we didn’t go short of carbs. Mrs H still has few weeks left on her Hi-Life card retirement present so, using that, we saved the price of a main course and half the starter price. Full whack, including four drinks, would have been around £43. Still a bargain, IMO.

The farm shop at Low Sizergh Barn should be on your list. Good range of "stuff" including meat from the very excellent Mansergh Hall (I buy virtually all my meat from Mansergh direct, over t'internet) http://www.lowsizerghbarn.co.uk/farm-shop-galleries/stockists-and-products.aspx

Is this, perhaps, thedefinition that separates the gastropub from the merely pub? I'm not sure. "There seems to be a certain type of person who dislikes intensely what we are trying to do. They like cheap food, have a fixed idea of what a pub should serve and often seem to get the words servile and service mixed up. They also like very long menus, very hot food and are quite Stalinist about these matters. The idea of a pub serving food of the highest quality (by definition this is also means a higher price) in a simple, relaxed setting seems to annoy them." (Lifted from the Sportsman's website)

Good to hear it's improved. We were there before Christmas and had a distinctly average experience (review on the main Manchester thread. We're off to the River Room in a couple of weeks - although others are paying, so I may not be a free agent with comments.

Pam Yep, I'd spotted Anokaa in Hardens. The main menu looks interesting - but at lunchtime, they say it's buffet. That might be very dreary Bangla-crap or they might have offerings from the main menu. Most Indian buffets are awful (although we have one locally that isnt). I'll see how I feel on the day - if I do go, is there anything you want to to look for? I don't drink alcohol so won't be able to comment on matching food to booze. John

I'm going to be pottering round the area for a few days and am after a decent lunch in both towns as a leisurely break from the touristing. And, assuming the weather stays this fine, another day around the New Forest.

I can only echo dougal's suggestion about the WI. Since it allowed commercial trading (at least of a sort), the markets now trade as Country Markets. You'll often find they also have stalls at farmers' markets (and, by the by, they also allow men to trade). Excellent entry level opportunity for the jam/pickle/chutney/baking market - and I suspect Environmental Health have a very light hand on the matter (but obviously worth checking.

I'm not a Welsh speaker and it's almost impossible to write anything like an accurate description of how the double L is pronounced. But Google finds me a website that says "positioning the tongue at the top front of the mouth and blowing". A reasonable phonetic description would be "poohh-helly". By the by, Welsh is the main language in the area and Anglophone children may have to travel some distance to be schools which teach in that language

The restaurant has much going for it, as far as we’re concerned. We like the feel of country house hotels and the air of decadence they often have. Here there is a mix of a traditional house and its furnishings and a very eclectic collection of artwork. The main menu offers three courses for £42.50 and it looked very good. Equally impressive for my partner was an extensive offering of wines by the half bottle. We were spoilt for choice as to food and, just as we were about to order, we were presented with a second menu offering the chef’s dishes from the recent Great British Menu – four courses for £47.50. That meant more decision making but we finally did decide to go for the GBM – and remain unsure whether it was the right choice. The starter had three elements – leek soup which was really good; a cone of ham wrapped around a smoked cheese mousse which was even better and a ham hock terrine which was pleasant enough. All three elements were good in their own right but this didn’t really work as single integrated dish. The fish course proved to be the best dish of the night. Menai sea bass served with a crab bonbon, fennel puree and a tomato & herb dressing. Fish was excellent; bonbon was OK, provided a texture contrast more than anything but the dish wouldn’t suffer if it was left off; puree was underwhelming but everything was brought together by the excellent tomato flavour of the dressing. The main brought roasted loin of hogget, a small rib and some braised shoulder. All three elements shone in their own way and were a pleasure to eat. Broad beans and asparagus, with a hint of mint, were also on the plate. The only criticism was in the lack of carb – which was only a a few very thin slices of spud, holding the braised shoulder in shape. Dessert was a lemon verbena set custard. This was not at all a memorable effort and had what we could only describe as a whiff of cough medicine about it. Good coffee and petit fours were served in the lounge. Service had been reasonable efficient but it felt that it lacked an air of professionalism that one might reasonably expect at this level.